Farm Bill

Floor Speech

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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I rise today to talk about the 2018 farm bill and the importance of passing this bill.

I thank Chairman Roberts and Ranking Member Stabenow for their dedication and determination in producing a truly bipartisan bill that cleared the Agriculture Committee 2 weeks ago with a strong bipartisan vote. Senator McConnell and Senator Schumer have been dedicated to moving this bill to the floor. Under Chairman Roberts' and Ranking Member Stabenow's leadership, the committee held six hearings, examining every title of the bill, passed a bill out of committee on a nearly unanimous 20-to-1 vote, and included almost 70 amendments before getting it to the floor this week.

The Agriculture Committee and the farm bill are models of how we can work across the aisle on tough problems and on major legislation that impacts every American--the farmers and ranchers who grow and raise the crops and livestock that sustain us, the hunters and conservationists who rely on the wetlands and grasslands protected, the families who rely on access to healthy foods.

This is an important bill. I hear it every day from people in my State--fishermen and hunters, farmers in rural communities and leaders. They understand that we do not want to be a country that becomes dependent on foreign food. We don't want that to happen.

In Minnesota, we produce a lot of food. Our economy is diverse from north to south and east to west--corn, soybeans, hogs, and turkeys in the southern and western part of our State; wheat, canola, and sugar beets in the northwest; and dairy and cattle in the central and southwest. As a State, we are No. 1 in turkeys. Yes, Mr. President, that is true. Minnesota is No. 1 in turkeys and sugar beets. We are No. 2 in hogs, No. 3 in soybeans, No. 4 in corn, and fifth overall in agricultural production. But the prices farmers have received when selling these goods have been declining since 2013. USDA's Economic Research Service is forecasting net farm income to fall another 6.7 percent this year, which would represent the lowest level since 2006.

These commodities are increasingly sent around the world. From 2006 to 2016, Minnesota producers sent $7.1 billion worth of ag products to markets around the world, making us the fourth largest agricultural exporting State in the United States. Our soybeans and dairy go to China, pork to Canada, beef to South Korea, and corn and poultry to Mexico. These exports are a crucial part of our economy, and the unknown on trade and the threat of terrorists, especially from allies with allies, such as Canada and what we have been seeing there--and I hope we will have a reasonable approach with our allies going forward-- those headlines are having real impacts on many farmers' bottom lines.

Finally, no matter where the farm is located or what crops they grow, all Minnesota farms and rural communities face weather risks. This spring, many farmers and ranchers were delayed getting into their fields because of an April blizzard. We had rains that were unexpected, and the uncertainty out there in the countryside makes our work on the 2018 farm bill even more important.

What do I like about this bill? First of all, it continues to protect and improve the tools that help our farmers deal with risk. The improvements included in the commodity title will ensure more consistent payments across counties in the Agricultural Risk Coverage Program and more access to risk management tools, such as crop insurance.

It also replaces the Margin Protection Program for dairy producers and invests additional funds in the new Dairy Risk Coverage Program. This is a major challenge in my State and many others.

We have also started a vaccine bank for the first time--something Senator Cornyn and I worked on. He is here in the Chamber, and I thank him for his leadership in working on this vaccine bank that we have started. It will help us with avian flu, H1N1, and other diseases that we see with our animals.

Senator Thune and I worked together on several provisions in the conservation title of the bill to help farmers get more out of their land. We also worked to increase the CRP cap to 25 million acres and to fix a loophole in the conservation sodsaver program.

This bill includes a number of amendments. I see Senator Stabenow is here on the floor, and I again thank her for her leadership in helping us. Michigan, just like Minnesota, understands how important agriculture-based energy, biobased manufacturing, and clean energy technology programs and initiatives are. Those amendments were all included in this farm bill. I truly appreciate it, as well as the work that Senator Hoeven and I did to increase access to credit, while providing for better data reporting on borrowers and participation rates.

I close with this: In these times of uncertainty in agriculture, we need to work to strengthen the farms and rural communities that sustain us every day. Whether it is hemp in Kentucky, hogs in Iowa, sugar beets and sweet corn in Minnesota, or energy in Michigan, this farm bill is about our Nation's future, and it is about adjusting what is working, making it a bill that meets the challenges ahead, and making sure we are investing in the farmers and the workers of the Midwest and not the oil cartels of the Mideast.

Thank you.

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